Why are Mercedes Struggling Against F1 Rivals Red Bull & Ferrari in 2022?

The 2022 season has brought in new rules and regulations in Formula 1. The new cars are less dependent on aerodynamics and use the ground effect to generate their downforce. This key change has worked differently with the F1 teams, and some of them are really struggling. Surprisingly, one of the teams is 8 times constructors’ champions, Mercedes.

The German team and their car have been riddled with issues since the first day of pre-season testing. The team is facing multiple challenges in getting the performance out of their car.

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As the new cars rely on the ground effect to generate their downforce, this has meant that many teams have struggled with floor damages and the phenomena called porpoising.

What are the issues faced by Mercedes in the 2022 season?

As reported by F1.com, Both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell have reported that they are struggling a lot with the bouncing in the W13 because of porpoising. This has pegged the team behind their rivals, Red Bull and Ferrari in terms of performance.

Another area where they seem to be struggling is their engines. Mercedes have had the most dominant engine since the beginning of the turbo-hybrid era in 2014. But it looks like there is a lot of drag and it is losing speed in the straights on the track.

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton finished on the podium in the first race of the season in Bahrain. But the result came after both the Red Bull cars failed to reach the finish line. In his post-race comments, Hamilton pointed out the areas where the car was struggling the most.

“The thing is with our car, we have a car that’s bouncing a lot everywhere. It’s not just in a straight line. We have a very poor rear end through all the low-speed corners and all the medium-speed corners.

The only place that is generally quite good is, relatively, in the high [speed corners] and then we are very slow in the straight line. So, I don’t know if it’s drag or if it’s power. We haven’t figured that out yet,” said Lewis.

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There is no speedy fix to the issue and it would require some time before the team can get to the same level as their rivals. Hopefully, we will see them at the front of the grid, challenging their rivals soon.